Some of Chicago’s best new breweries don’t bottle yet, so we went to five of them and brought back growlers! Marie Cummins joins us from the Down the Hatch beer blog and Chicago Craft Beer Enthusiasts. She comes through with much-needed food-pairing help, recaps her Kegs for Kidneys experience, talks about her favorite Chicago brewery, and explains why she’s so popular in the Ukraine. Craig and Ryan just try not to sound stupid. Someone’s gonna get punched in the stomach!

It’s a frenzy of 4 Hands beers as we tackle eight unique offerings from the St. Louis-based brewery. We have our first threeway (of beer) and we try not to make eye contact. We talk a little Pipeworks (of course), Craig rants about the Esquire network, and Ryan speaks ill about the sacred cow that is The Barenaked Ladies. We also drink lots of delicious beers. Let’s get handsy.

Pipeworks does a lot of things well, and weird beers are near the top of that list. We try five of their unique brews with unusual ingredients or unexpected style crossovers and discover that they’re all pretty awesome. Relive our cautious whiffs and relieved sips! Craig gives us the highlights of his busy Chicago Craft Beer Week. We also bring back the game that has changed the world of podcast beer reviews as we know them, Beers Against Humanity. Oh, yes, this one is way out there. (Fun play at home game: drink along and try to keep up with our rapidly diminishing sobriety! You have 59 minutes!)

Everyone loves a sequel! We drink 6 more double imperial pale ales in this episode, reaching new levels of palate destruction and inebriation. We jump in our own Mystery Machine and try to solve the hop secrets in some of these brews, Ryan unleashes a little Three Floyds rage, and Craig reveals to us all that he is, indeed, a God. (Because we’re busy celebrating Chicago Craft Beer Week, this episode was recorded two months ago. Enjoy!)

We kick off Chicago Craft Beer Week with Chris Ferguson from Bee’s Knees, a food company specializing in craft beer snacks. Along with five nut varieties, we open five local beers based on pairing suggestions provided by Bee’s Knees. Chris answers a lot of our questions about his business and helps us understand why his nuts are so damn good with beer. Intelligent dialogue ensues, until we all get drunk and Craig and Ryan bring it crashing back down. Also, we talk about what we’re looking forward to for Chicago Craft Beer Week. It’s a tasty one, so NUT UP.

We’re staying up late with four Tired Hands Brewing Company growlers, near-fresh from PA! After a day of drinking at the Mash Tun New Wave Brewer’s Bash - which we reminisce on throughout - we pull it together long enough to review and rank beers from RateBeer’s #2 top new brewery in 2013. We’ll talk Kurt Vonnegut, Stephen Tobolowsky, and our intentions to copyright “Hopularity.” I’m a horse.

We give wheat a chance with six different Chicago-area breweries that feature warmer-weather friendly wheat! There are a variety of styles, an enlightening history of wheat, and even some lemon bars made with Off Color’s Troublesome. We also ruminate on the novelty-shirt-friendly question, “What Would Jesus Drink?” (It’s probably Three Floyds.) This episode features music from Chicago’s own Oblivion, because that’s what Ryan wants.

Episode 14 - Lawson’s Finest Liquids

There are pancakes on the table to compliment the five beers we drink from Lawson’s Finest Liquids, and we use some of their maple syrup beers in the cooking process. Dennis joins us to help choke down the flattest flapjacks ever made, and yes, there will be some harmonizing. Listen for a surprisingly apt comparison to Brendan Fraser, Dennis shilling for White Castle, and a shocking confession about pickles. World Star!

Ryan

1. Maple Tripple Ale

2. Double Sunshine IPA

3. Maple Barrel Aged Fayston Imperial Stout

4. Fayston Maple Imperial Stout

5. Maple Wheat Ale

Craig

1. Maple Tripple Ale

2. Double Sunshine IPA

3. Fayston Maple Imperial Stout

4. Maple Barrel Aged Fayston Imperial Stout

5. Maple Wheat Ale

Dennis

1. Maple Tripple Ale

2. Double Sunshine IPA

3. Maple Barrel Aged Fayston Imperial Stout

4. Fayston Maple Imperial Stout

5. Maple Wheat Ale

Spring has sprung and saisons are the beer of the season! We drink 6 different saisons from Chicago-area breweries and talk baseball and flowers and bunnies and shit. We also share some listener feedback and hold a little saison history lesson. And be prepared to be moved by Craig's delicate and beautiful singing voice. Taste the refreshment!

Ryan

1. Middle Brow The Life Pursuit

2. Une Année/Bangers and Lace Frères

3. Haymarket The Saison Also Rises

4. Only Child Le Perfectionniste

5. Pipeworks Catch of a Lifetime

6. Revolution Coup D’Etat

Craig

1. Une Année/Bangers and Lace Frères

2. Middle Brow The Life Pursuit

3. Haymarket The Saison Also Rises

4. Only Child Le Perfectionniste

5. Pipeworks Catch of a Lifetime

6. Revolution Coup D’Etat

Four hoppy delights from Alpine Beer Company star in this episode, as Craig and Ryan try to rank them from best to less-than-best. Also, Craig shares some tips for beer trading and other ways of acquiring hard-to-get releases. Ryan finds a way to get really drunk on four relatively lower alcohol beers. Join us as we do some Alpine skiing – and it ain’t snowin’!

Ryan

1. Duet

2. Nelson

3. Alpine Ale

4. Pure Hoppiness

Craig

1. Nelson

2. Duet

3. Pure Hoppiness

4. Alpine Ale